The World Health Organisation has announced that the number of people killed by the Ebola Virus Disease has reached at least 2,917.
According to the global health body, the increasing casualty figure is driven by the continuing rapid spread of the disease in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The New York Times reported that the UN agency made the announcement on Thursday.
At least 2,909 people have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with 6,242 reported Ebola cases over all, according to the latest report of the UN health agency. Nigeria and Senegal have recorded a total of eight deaths and 21 cases of infection.
The latest estimates of the spread of the disease followed a sombre projection by the WHO that the number of people infected by Ebola could hit 20,000 by early November, and another forecast, by the United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, that the number of infections could reach 1.4 million by January.
Both projections presented worst-case scenarios, and officials of both organisations thought it probable that the scaling up of the international response would avert these outcomes.
More than half the total deaths and infections have occurred in Liberia, which reported more than 1,700 new cases in the last 21 days.
In Sierra Leone, two districts at the heart of its Ebola outbreak have recorded declining numbers of people infected, but the organisation said further investigation was needed to establish whether this was a clear trend and whether there was at the same time a sharp rise in the number of new cases in the capital, Freetown, as has been reported.
“The situation in Guinea, although still of grave concern, appears to have stabilised,” the WHO said, observing that the number of new cases in the capital, Conakry, was moderate and stable.
The outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were “pretty much contained,” the health organisation’s Africa office reported this week, noting that Senegal had only recorded one case of infection at the end of August, and that Nigeria had not found any new cases since September 8 this year.
But seven weeks after the health organisation declared the outbreak a global health emergency, its latest report shows the capacity of treatment centres in the worst-affected countries still falling short of requirements.
According to the WHO, Liberia’s treatment centres have a total of 315 beds, putting the number of additional beds needed at 1,990, of which only 440 have so far been pledged.
According to the global health body, the increasing casualty figure is driven by the continuing rapid spread of the disease in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The New York Times reported that the UN agency made the announcement on Thursday.
At least 2,909 people have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with 6,242 reported Ebola cases over all, according to the latest report of the UN health agency. Nigeria and Senegal have recorded a total of eight deaths and 21 cases of infection.
The latest estimates of the spread of the disease followed a sombre projection by the WHO that the number of people infected by Ebola could hit 20,000 by early November, and another forecast, by the United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, that the number of infections could reach 1.4 million by January.
Both projections presented worst-case scenarios, and officials of both organisations thought it probable that the scaling up of the international response would avert these outcomes.
More than half the total deaths and infections have occurred in Liberia, which reported more than 1,700 new cases in the last 21 days.
In Sierra Leone, two districts at the heart of its Ebola outbreak have recorded declining numbers of people infected, but the organisation said further investigation was needed to establish whether this was a clear trend and whether there was at the same time a sharp rise in the number of new cases in the capital, Freetown, as has been reported.
“The situation in Guinea, although still of grave concern, appears to have stabilised,” the WHO said, observing that the number of new cases in the capital, Conakry, was moderate and stable.
The outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were “pretty much contained,” the health organisation’s Africa office reported this week, noting that Senegal had only recorded one case of infection at the end of August, and that Nigeria had not found any new cases since September 8 this year.
But seven weeks after the health organisation declared the outbreak a global health emergency, its latest report shows the capacity of treatment centres in the worst-affected countries still falling short of requirements.
According to the WHO, Liberia’s treatment centres have a total of 315 beds, putting the number of additional beds needed at 1,990, of which only 440 have so far been pledged.
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